Improvement in revolving fire-arms



W. H. ELLIOT. Revolver.

No. 33,382. Patented Oct. 1; 1861.

Wiinemw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WM. H. ELLIOT, OF PLATTSBURG, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS Specification foriming part of Letters Patent No. 33,382, dated October 1, 1861.

prehend, make, and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its nature, construction, and operation.

Thenature of my invention consists in a novel method of employing, combining, and arranging certain devices, by which a compact and convenient pocket-pistol is obtained.

Figure 1 is a perpendicular section of my pistol, showing the lock in elevation. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a breech-plate. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the end of a series of barrels, showing the chambers filled with exploded cartridges. Fig. 4 is an elevation of a hammer and cartridge, with dotted lines showing the direction of certain forces at the moment of the discharge. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the rear end of a barrel, showing the projections or anvils. Fig. 6 is the same as Fig. 5.

a is the frame; b, barrels, bored throughat their rear end for the purpose of being charged at the breech; c, cartridges d, breech-plate; e, hammer, pivoted underneath and forward of the rear end of the barrels; f, trigger; g, cocking-pawl; h, stirrup; 'i, notch upon the hammer into which cocking-pawl gfalls; k, mainspring; m, base-pin; a, set-screw between the hammer and trigger; 0, impression made by the point of the hammer upon the shell of the cartridge; 1" and 1", line showing the direction of the recoil; s and 8, direction of the resistance offered by the hammer; t, plane of the surface acted upon by the hammer; a, opening through the breech-plate for passing the cartridge into the chambers; 22, projections or anvils.

This pistol is loaded by passing the cartridges through opening a in the breech-plate into the chambers, and to fire it the trigger must first be pushed forward to the position represented by the dotted lines, Fig. 1, when the rear end of pawl g falls into notch 5 upon the hammer, and as the trigger is carried backward again the hammer is raised until the side of the trigger comes in contact with the head of screw 11. in pawl g, by which meansthe rear end of pawl g is raised out of notch 15 and the hammer falls upon the cartridge and explodes it. When it becomes necessary to pass the trigger back without firing,it may be done by pressinrg upon the lower side of the cocking-pawl, when its rear end will be raised out of the notch in the hammer, in which position the trating a littleinto the copper shell. A hammer so arranged in relation to the chambers holds onto the cartridge like a hook at the moment the discharge takes place, and thus prevents the full recoil of the cartridge against the breechplate, the eflect of whichis to relieve the breechplate of the pressure of the shells of the cartridges and the consequent friction when the barrelsa-rerevolved. Thecartridgesare passed into the chambers, as shown in Fig. 1,through opening u in the breech-plate, and the recoil is parallel with the bore of the barrel, or, as represented in Fig. 4, from 'r to r, the resistance of the hammer to the recoil of the cartridge being in the direction of s to s. The exploding-point by the force of the blow is embedded into the copper shell, and thus produces a surface upon which it holds, the plane of which is in t it, exactly at right angles to the line of resistance ofi'ered by the hammer. Th us it may be seen that thehammer, even without the assistance of the mainspring, would not slip down upon the head of the cartridge. Nu-

merous experiments have proven that either.

with or without a breech-plate the point of the hammer is never displaced by the recoil ofv the cartridge.

The employment of a hammer arranged as shown in the drawings, and as hereinbefore specified, in relation to the barrels or frame, with chambers bored through and left open at their rear end, and with a breech -plate, is an important improvement, as a degree of compactness is obtained by this combination that could not possibly be had without it.

The projections 21 on the rear end of the barrels serve as anvils, between which and the exploding-point of the hammer the rim of the cartridge is crushed. This projection is a slight elongation of the barrel or chamber, arranged upon the side upon which the point or face of the hammer strikes and'directly under said point, the purpose of which is to provide for any irregularity in the construction of the cartridge, so that the rim of the cartridge may always find a firm resting-place at the side of the chamber under the explodingpoint of the hammer.

Screw n in the cocking-pawl is for the purpose of regulating the action of the trigger, so as to determine the exact point at which it shall raise the pawl 9 so as to disengage the hammer. This is an important improvement, as a slight wearing of the joints of the trigger and pawl would derange their operations and render them useless if no intervening device were employed for regulating them.

One striking peculiarity of this invention consists in the arrangement of the diflerent parts of the frame in relation to each other, by which a more compact pistol is obtained than could be had without itviz., the arrangementof the breech-plate in the rear of that portion of the frame to which the hammer is pivoted. By breech-plate I mean that portion of the pistol (marked (1) against which the cartridge recoils, and which is detachedfrom both the hammer and chamber. This breech-plate serves the purpose of a breech-pin to the barrels, and can only be employed with chambers that are bored through and left open for the purpose of being charged at the rear end.

Having described myinvention,what Iclaim, and wish to have secured to me by Letters Patent, is-

1. Extending the frame a forward of the breech-plate d and hanging in the partso extended forward the hammer e and trigger f, when these devices are employed with chambers that are bored through and left open for the purpose of being charged at the rear end, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The employment of set-screw n between the cocking-pawl g and-trigger f, when said screw is so employed between these devices as to determine at what point in the motion of the trigger the hammer shall be disengaged, as set forth.

3. Resisting the recoil of the cartridge by means of a hammer pivoted underneath and forward of the rear end of the chambers, as set forth.

5. The employmentof a hammer so arranged in relation to the chambers that while it is pivoted underneath and forward of the rear end of said chambers its exploding-point strikes up in their rear, as specified.

1li0n,Herkimer county, New York, 8th June, 1860.

WM. H. ELLIOT.

Witnesses:

I. HARRINGTON, W. W. THOMAS. 

